Stacey X has introduced a series of interesting bills regarding housing and real estate.

HB983 [1] (PDF format) completely redefines "blight" and severely narrows the current definition [2]. The change eliminates "dilapidation, obsolescence, overcrowding, lack of ventilation, light and sanitary facilities, deleterious land use, or any combination of these or other factors, [that] are detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community" as elements of blight. It also specifically excludes loss of property value to surrounding properties as an element of blight, and restricts "blighted areas" to a single parcel.

HB1649 [3] (PDF format) would limit damages for improper variances from zoning or building codes to the local government that approved them. Developers would be held harmless and could not be named as a defendants.

HB778 [4] (PDF format) prohibits a local government from condemning blighted property and transferring it to another private entity. Instead, it allows only repair or demolition, with the property owner being charged for the costs by way of a tax lien. And if I read it correctly, the owner of the blighted property would have two years to get their condemned property back. (The bill appears to have a defect, though. It defines "economic development" as a legal term for the purposes of the statute, but the term is never used or referenced in the text of the statute.)